We Gon' Be Alright
“We gon’ be alright.” That line from Kendrik Lamar hit song, “Alright” became the rallying cry, an anthem, for the Black Lives Matter movement. Those lines are also the title of Jeff Chang’s new book....
View ArticleMaking My Grandmother's Story Graphic
Miles Hyman is Shirley Jackson's grandson. He's an artist who specializes in graphic novels and adaptations of classic literature. His latest book has a lot of personal meaning for him. It's a graphic...
View ArticleBehind the Mask of the “American Male”
This six minute short film sets a typical frat house scene with heightened visual intensity: beer pong, drunk girls, guys with their shirts off doing shots, hazing rituals, fights. The twist is that...
View ArticleBlack At Home, White At Work
By day, Bob Hansman's an architecture professor at an elite university. But he calls St. Louis’ inner city home, where he lives among the largely black community that welcomed him.
View ArticleBeatboxing With My Dad
Father-daughter beatboxers Nicole Paris and Ed Cage showcase their incredible vocal talent and tell Charles Monroe-Kane how it started with a bedtime ritual.
View ArticleMachine Music Theory 101
Doug Eck directs Google’s new “Magenta” project, an experiment in teaching machines to make art, leveraging advances in machine learning like neural networks to enable computers to do things like...
View ArticleWhat Sartre Meant by “Hell is Other People”
Philosopher Gregory Sadler has a fascinating take on the famous line from French philosopher Jean Paul Sartre’s 1944 play, “No Exit.”
View ArticleThe Secret History of Twin Peaks
In collaboration with David Lynch, Mark Frost co-created one of the most enduring fictional universes of all time — Twin Peaks. Now Frost has written an innovative novel that takes a deep dive into the...
View ArticleAn Inside Look at Hollywood's Death-Defying Stuntwomen
It’s no secret that Hollywood has a diversity problem. Take for instance the fact that women only hold about 1 in 6 leadership roles in the film industry. And despite facing greater dangers, female...
View ArticleHow Alfred Hitchcock Created Suspense Through Music
Jack Sullivan is the author of "Hitchcock's Music." He tells Anne Strainchamps about the partnership between Alfred Hitchcock and Bernard Hermann which resulted in some of the greatest film scores ever...
View ArticleCould the Internet Be The World’s Greatest Piece of Collaborative Art?
Despite pining for landline telephones, writer Virginia Heffernan sees magic in the potential of the internet.
View ArticleMenefreghismo
It means “a couldn’t-care-less attitude,” and it’s a personal mantra for comedian Norm MacDonald.
View ArticleDavid Byrne is Thinking About How Music Works
David Byrne is one of those artists who just keeps reinventing himself -- first as frontman of Talking Heads. Then by making films and writing books. Lately, he's been making historical musicals -- one...
View ArticleClassical Doesn't Have To Mean Dead
Composer William Brittelle's music crosses so many boundaries, it's hard to categorize.
View ArticleTwo Tape Recorders and Twenty Knives
For more than 40 years, Marina Abramovic has been testing what’s permissible — and physically possible — in art.
View ArticleA Matter of (Bad) Taste
John Waters might not be an ideal role model— so why let him give a commencement address?
View ArticleHow Temporary Blindness Taught Teju Cole To See
Going blind in one eye would unnerve anyone. And for a photographer, it’s especially upsetting. But Teju Cole found that his Big Blind Spot Syndrome taught him a new way to look at the world — and...
View ArticleArtist Rashid Johnson Explores Race, Yearning and Escape
Rashid Johnson is a rising star in the art world. Using signature materials like shea butter and black soap, he explores themes of race, yearning and escape, and grapples with what it means to come of...
View ArticleLidia Yuknavitch’s Dream World
We’re starting to see a new kind of fiction: climate fiction. Lidia Yuknavitch’s “The Book of Joan” is one of the most stunning examples. It’s the story of a near-future where Earth is decimated and...
View ArticleZulu Time
It’s hard to wrap your head around climate change. How do you really take in the concept of planetary change over decades or even centuries? Visual artist Kambui Olujimi explores different ideas about...
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